With currently a good 300 million unique users (Internal groupwide calculation based on the country-specific net reach of print and digital offerings taking into consideration a determined overlap factor) for its journalistic offerings (digital and print), Axel Springer SE has managed to more than triple its total net reach in the News Media segment in the past five years. This information was provided by CEO Mathias Döpfner at an Axel Springer SE press event in Berlin. A considerable contribution towards this success, he added, has come from the international offerings BUSINESS INSIDER and UPDAY as well as the national brands BILD and WELT, which together exceeded the 500,000 mark in paying subscribers for the first time in October 2018. BILDplus alone ranks fifth worldwide among journalistic paid content offerings (FIPP/International Federation of the Periodical Press: 2018 Global Digital Subscription Snapshot) and reaches the largest number of subscribers outside of the English-speaking territories.

Mathias Döpfner says: "In the USA, we became profitable this year and thus earlier than expected with BUSINESS INSIDER, the digital market leader in business topics. In Europe, we have continued to expand UPDAY as an important player among news aggregators and will also earn money with this offering in 2019. On a national level, the paid content offerings BILDplus and WELTplus are contributing more and more towards compensating for the declining sales revenues from print. This clearly shows that digital journalism is becoming increasingly profitable at Axel Springer."

BUSINESS INSIDER is a leading business news brand and, under the umbrella brand INSIDER Inc., also established as a general interest offering in the USA

BUSINESS INSIDER not only stands for extensive reach, but - particularly in the USA - also for exclusive content that is tailored especially to the digitally savvy target group. With this unique blend, BUSINESS INSIDER has overtaken well-known brands like Wall Street Journal Digital and Bloomberg.com in terms of user numbers. Moreover, the company under the INSIDER Inc. umbrella brand is also in the process of establishing itself as one of the leading general interest offerings. To further push profitability, INSIDER Inc. also counts on paid content offerings for readers and, in its marketing activities, uses programmatic advertising, product recommendations and specific information solutions for business customers, among other things.

Publishers' platform: UPDAY, with 25 million users in 16 countries the number one news app in Europa, is set to become profitable in 2019

UPDAY is the number one among news apps in Europe. The start-up was launched in four countries on mobile phones and smartwatches in 2016. It is now an integral component within the ecosystem of the Samsung product pallet, available in 16 countries and on additional devices such as televisions, tablets and even fridges. As such, UPDAY now has more than 25 million users per month and about 500 million monthly visits. The news app is the most successful mobile service on the products of the Korean tech company and is marked by strong growth and intensive use, which also makes it attractive for marketers.

Peter Würtenberger, CEO UPDAY says: "Our strategy of focusing on marketing following a successful product development and expanding the reach has paid off: In 2018, we were able to triple our sales and we expect to become profitable in 2019 for the full year."

UPDAY has not only firmly established itself up as a platform for users and for marketing but is also beneficial for the publishers. The news app brings more than ten million visits per day to their websites, making UPDAY responsible for a relevant percentage of their traffic. Helpful here are also exclusive partnerships with well-known media brands.

Jan-Eric Peters, Chief Product Officer UPDAY, added: "UPDAY has developed into a true publishers' platform. We are very happy that we have become a relevant distribution channel for journalism so fast and that so many editorial offices and publishers in Europe gain additional reach through UPDAY."